Writer Julia Sta. Romana wins Lasallian Scholarum prize for GMA article on smart-shaming

Writer Julia Jasmine Madrazo Sta. Romana on Monday won a Lasallian Scholarum Award for a piece on "smart-shaming" in Philippine culture.

The article, published by GMA News Online on July 6, 2015, looks into the propensity of some, or perhaps many, Filipinos to shun intellectualism and embrace ignorance. "You can say we celebrate education but we seem to hold ourselves back. It's almost like we're afraid or ashamed to be too intelligent," she wrote.

She was not at the ceremony to accept her award, so Sta. Romana picked it up at the GMA News Online newsroom.

Read: Smart-shaming and our Pinoy culture of anti-intellectualism

Sta. Romana, a Davao-based writer and scientist, studied molecular biology and biotechnology at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She is a program director for Digibak at DAKILA and content development specialist at Onlinejobs.ph. She also describes herself as "nerd-in-chief" for online magazine Nerdgasm.

She said she was motivated to write about smart-shaming when someone said she was "nagmamagaling" when she was talking about issues. "At first I was pissed, but the incident also made me curious why we Filipinos do that in our conversations while at the same time insisting that we value education. It seemed contradictory to me," she told GMA News Online.

In her article, Sta. Romana pointed to our politicians and our movies and TV shows as examples of this pervasive embrace of anti-intellectualism, and noted how science and math skills are valued in other countries compared to the Philippines.

Citing the late psychologist Virgilio Enriquez's discussion of "kapwa" at the core of Filipino psychology, Sta. Romana posits in her article that the Philippine culture of anti-intellectualism exists not because we value ignorance, but because we value camaraderie with each other—and we are a nation where "only 42% finish high school and more than 25% live below the poverty line," she writes.

"[S]adly, the common Filipino, more often than not, is uneducated and in poverty."

She emphasizes the urgent need for more Filipinos to be given the opportunity to receive education. "Filipinos must be given means to help them rise over poverty so they can focus on finishing education. The solution looks so simple on paper, but it's not an easy fix," she writes.

Sta. Romana said that we need to use "kapwa" to raise ourselves and each other up. "Kapwa or togetherness is a wonderful construct, it makes us who we are. But we can’t keep using it as an excuse to celebrate mediocrity and ignorance. If we take the time to look at the Filipinos achievements, it’s obvious that we can do more and it’s time for us to expect more from ourselves," she writes.

Sponsored by the Office for Strategic Communications of De La Salle University, the annual Lasallian Scholarum Awards is open to print, photo, broadcast and campus journalists, It recognizes stories that raise awareness about "critical issues confronting the education sector."

There are six categories: published feature article; column article; photograph on youth and education in a nationally circulated publication; televised feature story on youth and education; feature story on De La Salle University; and published article on youth and education in a school organ.

GMA's Reel Time was also recognized at the Lasallian Scholarum Awards for its documentary "Isang Paa sa Hukay (The Price of Gold)."

This year's winners received a trophy created by sculptor Daniel dela Cruz and a cash prize. — BM, GMA News